Two successful female writers will take on new roles as they collaborate on an indie romantic comedy. The film is called Austenland and it’ll be directed by Jerusha Hess, who co-wrote Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos with her husband Jared Hess, and produced by Stephenie Meyer, writer of the Twilight novels. Though Meyer is credited as a producer on those ultra-successful movies, this will be her first producing gig on something she didn’t conceive.

Austenland focuses on a young woman obsessed with Colin Firth’s character, Mr. Darcy, in the BBC production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Starring Keri Russell, JJ Field, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Seymour, Rupert Vansittart and James Callis, it humorously explores how that idealism completely ruins her love life. Shooting begins this week. Read more after the jump. Read More »

First thought upon hearing the plot for the just-announced comedy Save the Date: “another goddamn wedding movie?” First thought after seeing the cast: “I can’t believe I’m going to be excited to see another goddamn wedding movie!” The script focuses on two sisters and their approaches to life and marriage: “one who’s happy with the status quo and doesn’t see any reason to marry her musician boyfriend while the other’s obsessed with planning her upcoming wedding.” (Melancholia much?)

But the cast is already impressive: Alison Brie (Community, Mad Men) and Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls, Party Down) play the sisters and Marin Starr (Adventureland, Party Down), Geoffrey Arend (Super Troopers) and Mark Weber (Scott Pilgrim) are the supporting cast we’ve got so far. And I don’t need any more than that — ticket sold. The script is by graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown, and Mike Mohan will direct the film in July in LA. [Variety]

After the break, the odd legal drama Live at the Foxes Den gets more names, as does, inevitably, American Reunion. Read More »

After some dithering among several pretty young blond boy actors, Screen Gems and director Scott Stewart (Priest, Legion) have chosen Jamie Campbell Bower to play Jace Wayland in the adaptation of City of Bones, Cassandra Clare‘s first The Mortal Instruments novel. Alex Pettyfer was once in the running but bowed out. Jaime Campbell Bower almost certainly has to be a better choice, anyway, though I haven’t seen enough of his work to say that with certainty. (He had small parts in New Moon and Sweeney Todd, played Arthur in Camelot, and will be in Roland Emmerich’s upcoming Anonymous.)

The book starts off like so: When Clary Fray witnesses three tattoo-covered teenagers murder another teen, she is unable to prove the crime because the victim disappears right in front of her eyes, and no one else can see the killers. She learns that the teens are Shadowhunters (humans who hunt and kill demons), and Clary, a mundie (i.e., mundane human), should not be able to see them either. Shortly after this discovery, her mother, Jocelyn, an erstwhile Shadowhunter, is kidnapped.

Lily Collins, playing Clary, might be the determining factor with respect to the shoot schedule, as she is also set to be the lead in Tarsem’s Snow White film. That one has to shoot very soon, since it is set for a March 2012 release. So The Mortal Instruments will likely shoot later this summer or in early fall. [Deadline]

After the break, one more for American Reunion, and another Twilighter, Jackson Rathbone, is cast in a legal drama. Read More »

Jamie Chung has two big Legendary Pictures films behind her this year, Sucker Punch and The Hangover Part II, and now (probably not as a response) she’s going indie for the film Knife Fight. That’s the one starring Rob Lowe where he plays “a political crisis manager who specializes in playing hardball on behalf of scandal-plagued clients.” Jamie Chung will be his savvy assistant. Quite a few other people are in talks for roles, too: Julie Bowen, Connie Britton, Jennifer Morrison, Rebecca Mader and Titus Welliver. Bill Guttentag directs and co-wrote the script with Chris Lehane; the film will shoot next month in San Francisco, and a release is planned for October 2012, timed around the next US Presidential election.

Before Knife Fight makes it to theaters, Jamie Chung will be in Premium Rush, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and was written and directed by David Koepp. [Variety]

After the break, Oz: The Great and Powerful and American Reunion get minor additions. Read More »

Just when you thought you’d seen the last of the gang from American Pie, Universal is baking another. They’ve officially locked deals with three of the stars of the original films, Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott and Eugene Levy, to appear in American Reunion, according to The Hollywood Reporter. They’re also negotiating with Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Chris Klein, Mena Suvari and Jennifer Coolidge to reprise their roles as well. American Reunion, which would officially be the fourth American Pie movie with the original cast, but eighth (!) in a lucrative direct-to-video franchise, would surely see the gang come home to Michigan for their high school reunion.

A new trailer for Werner Herzog‘s (Grizzly Man) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans has found its way online. The film is a quasi-remake of Abel Ferrara’s infamous 1992 film, which starred Harvey Keitel. The new film stars Nicolas Cage as a crooked drug-addicted cop who takes sexual favors for bribes. The film co-stars Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Coolidge and Fairuza Balk.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this. The trailer doesn’t impress me in the slightest, but I’ll see any movie Herzog makes. Why did Herzog want to make this movie? He claims hes never seen the original. The remake isn’t even a remake. Herzog himself calls it “a completely independent autonomous story.” Watch the trailer after the jump, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.Read More »

With each new episode, Party Down distinguishes itself as one of the funniest and lewdest shows on TV, and one of the coolest that many viewers have not yet seen. Last week, we had a great chat with Martin Starr, and this week we have an interview with Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars). As Kyle Bradway—an aspiring model, actor, rockstar, and server of cocktail weenies—Hansen plays the kind of pink and stoned specimen that is hyper-thriving in Hollywood circa 2009.

Like the other primary characters on Party Down, Kyle is employed at the titular L.A. catering service awaiting the big call. The irony is that as the careers of everyone else fizzle (Adam Scott‘s Henry) or zombify (Jane Lynch‘s Constance), Kyle surfs up the audition ladder on fresh-faced sex appeal. This pisses off his co-worker, the disgruntled, utterly weird screenwriter Roman (Starr), to no end. And in tapping the rude camaraderie between the two, Party Down and Starz may have already struck a tidy mine of black gold.

As exhibited below, some of the bubbly chemistry is actually just Hansen and Starr—characteristically eavesdropping?—nagging each other IRL. Other topics discussed include Party Down‘s myriad connections to Veronica Mars: both shows were created by Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell makes a profane appearance later this season. Hansen also talks about getting shot in the head by the latest incarnation of Jason Voorhees.